The present invention relates to the equipment employed for carrying out the method of construction which formed the subject of French patent No. 2,141,580 as well as the Certificates of Addition No. 2,192,220 and No. 2,416,310.
The method in question provides for manufacturing and equipping in the factory complementary cells which are intended to be subsequently assembled side by side in order to constitute a construction unit corresponding to a dwelling house or to one level of a building.
In accordance with this method, the different cells which are intended to form one construction unit are produced in the factory by placing them side by side and exactly in the respective positions which they are intended to occupy when subsequently assembled at the construction site. In accordance with an important feature of this method, the floor slabs of the different cells of any one unit are formed by a single placement of concrete on a molding bed which carries parallel partitioning members, said members being intended to separate the slabs which form part of each cell. Before placing the concrete, prefabricated panels are disposed vertically at the end of the different cells so as to form the external walls of these latter. These panels are then temporarily secured by suitable means so that their lower ends may subsequently be immovably joined to the slabs of the different cells at the time of casting of the slabs.
This method offers substantial advantages over the other methods of prefabrication which merely provide for the construction of separate panels to be assembled in situ. In fact, the method under consideration is not concerned with simple panels but involves the construction of complete cells which leave the factory with all their interior technical equipment such as, for example, cable ducts and electrical connections, water piping and sanitary equipment, heating pipes and radiators, and so on. Moreover, these cells have the advantage of being fabricated side by side in the respective positions which they are subsequently intended to occupy. In consequence, their subsequent assembly does not present any difficulty.
The equipment contemplated in French patents No. 2,141,580, No. 2,192,220 and No. 2,416,310 essentially includes a horizontal bed which is intended to serve as a bottom surface for molding the slabs of the different cells of any one unit as well as subdividing members which are carried by said bed and which consist in each case of a beam having a cross-section in the shape of an inverted T. In accordance with the method described in this French patent and its patents of Addition, these subdividing beams are also put to subsequent use as means for lifting completed cells with a view to discharging them. In addition, removable attachment means are provided for temporarily immobilizing prefabricated panels which are intended to be immovably joined to cell slabs.
However, by reason of its conceptual design, the use of this equipment is limited to the construction of cells having predetermined dimensions. In consequence, in order to be able to construct cells having different dimensions, provision must be made for a number of molding beds which are in turn different and for several sets of beams for subdividing the slabs. This accordingly limits the use of the method considered.
For the reasons given in the foregoing, the present invention is directed to a fabrication installation which is so designed as to eliminate this drawback in order to permit the construction of cells having various dimensions. However, the design of this installation is also such that this latter offers a certain number of improvements with respect to the equipment employed up to the present time for carrying out the method in question.